The Ottawa free trader. [volume] (Ottawa, Ill.) 1843-1916, 1887-05-14
TIE CALL OF MOSES.
EXPLANATORY NOTES BY S. !,
CURTlSS, PHI. D., o. D.

Moses never lost the consciousness that he
was a Hebrew. Whether he kept up ac-
auaintance with his own mother we do not
know. II is notimprobable. That conscious
ness was reused TO the utmost when he saw
his brethren suffering under their burdens
Acting under the impulse OF the moment, he
killed the task master who was beating his
brother Hebrew and hid his body In the sand
Elk. IL, IL, ~. The. next day. when he saw
two Hebrews striving together and rcbuked
the one who did the wrong, he was alarmed
to hear him say: "Who made thee prince
AMI judge over u.s. Thinkest II ~ to kill me
as thou killedst the Egyptianr Revised ver-
son) The affair became known 10 the king,
who sought to kill him. Moses therefore
fled. There were two directions which he
might naturally have taken. One was the di-
rect road to Canaan. But this was full OF
danger, for Ranlses ii, who is supposed to
have been the king from whom he fled. had a
treaty with the Hittites Mt least which de-
manded the delivering up Of any fusitives
who might seek TO escape from Egypt Moses
therefore, as many years later, took a south
erly route to the land of INDIAN, which is
commonly supposed TO have been situated east
of the Elanitic Gulf, although tie indian i'll
tended here must have been in the southern
and eastern part of the Sinaitic peninsula.
There through his politeness to the daughters
of the priest Of INDIAN, who, like the daugh-
tiers of the Bedouin Of to-day, were pasturing
their fathers focks he became son-in-law Of
Jethro.
This experience Of Moses was an important
part of Gods plan. Moses needed different
kind of training from that which he had had
at the court of Pharaoh. That training he
was to receive in the awful solitudes OF the
wilderness through which he was to conduct
Gods chosen people. At the time he fled
from Egypt they were not ready for deliver
ance. Nor was the time ripe. The most
powerful of the Pharaohs, if we may believe
the concurrent testimony of Egyptian schol-
ars, then sat on the throne The time for the
exodus was to come during the decadence of
the Egyptian power under Mernephtah. Gods
providential leading was thus manifest at
every stage of Moses life.
After long years had elapsed the glorious
reign of King Ramscs III came to an end. He
was followed by his thirteenth son, Merneph-
tab God heard the grooming of his people,
and remembered his covenant with Abraham,
Isaac and Jacob
THE LESSON.
Moses and His Flock w. l)--Moses was still
keeping the flock of his father-n-law, Jetbro.
1t is probable that if in the enthusiasm of
early manhood he had thought he could de-
liver his people, he had long since relln-
quished that hope. At Gods chosen time lie
leads his flock to the back part of the wilder
ness, to the mountain, which in subsequent
history came to be known as the mountain of
God, which was then known as Horeb, and in
other passages as Sinai, which Palmer holds
was the same as Jebel MuSa.
The Burning Bush ". !l-While there the
angel of Jehovah, who is known in New Test
ament language as the Son of God, appeared
to him in flame of fire out of the midst of
the bush. He did not recognize at first who
it was, but he was amazed to see thorn bush
on fire which was not consumed. The mani
festation of God by fire is a favorlte symbol
in the Old Testament. Perhaps it is difficult
to be sure Of the typical Specification intended
here by the appearance in the bush
V. 3 At first Moses curiosity was simply
aroused. He said II will turn aside and see
this great sight-why the bush is not con
sumed.'
VS.. 4, g. As he turned he found that it was
not merely a natural manifestation, but God
himself called to him out of the midst of the
bush, and babe him take his sandals off his
feet, because the ground on which he was
standing was holy To uncover the feet was
a sign.of reverence in the east, and still is to-
day of something the same sort as uncovering
the heal with U.S.
V. g. God then proclaimed himself as the
God of his father" used in a collective sense
of Abraham, Isaac and Jacob. Moses was
afraid, when he understood that it was God
himself, to look on the thorn brsh partly
perhaps from sense of his unworthiness and
partly because he might have felt that he
could not behold God and live.
God Remembers His People Tvs. 7-0-God
had not been unmindful of his people. Every
blow that had fallen from the lash Of the
Egyptian taskmaster, and every cry that they
had lifted up, had been marked by him and
had touched his heart.
Speaking as man, so that Moses and his
people might understand him, he says that he
has come down to deliver them from the
hands of the Egyptians and bring them into
a good and large country flowing with milk
and honey.
The country of Palestine, which is not
much larger tnull INC SJibe Oh NEW liiUll)-
shire, would I've a small country to us, but in
comparison with the land Of Goshen, only
part of which they occupied, or even of the
upper part of Egypt itself, which embraces
only the valley of the Nile, which is not more
than seven miles wide, il would seem to be q
wide country. According to the testimony
of other ancient writers it was a very fruit
full country, and might well be spoken Of, in
a figurative sense, as flowing with milk and
honey.
The Canaantes-The nations here men
toned are only a part of those sometimes
enumerated We know from modern imves-
LEGATIONS that the Hittites were a very power
full people, who resisted Ramses II for years,
and who finally made treaty of peace with
him on equal terms. The term Canaanites,
which literally means lowlanders, is some
times used Of one people, as here sometimes as
embracing all the other peoples
Human instruments Tvs 10, 1D-Although
God has infinite power, when he has work
to do he uses human instruments This is
the law of his kingdom. He therefore bids
Moses bring forth the people of Israel out OF
Egypt. Moses shrinks from the responsible.
ity, like every great soul who is worthy OF
one. Although he may once have felt as
though he might help his people, he no longer
feels the strength or ambition for such a re-
sponsible place. His long residence in the
wilderness causes him to shrink from contact
, with the proud monarch of Egypt, and il
seemed to him impossible that he should be
abla IN yy,.eSt biS peonle from tho pov.rft n